Friends say missing Baylor hoops player feared threats

Published: July 1, 2003 8:00PM

WACO, Texas (AP) Before he disappeared three weeks ago, missing Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehey told a friend he was concerned about threats to his safety and fired guns with his roommate that the two had acquired for protection, according to newspaper reports.

Police have not found the Baylor forward, dont know how his vehicle ended up on the East Coast and have not named roommate Carlton Dotson as a suspect. A search warrant affidavit, citing a police informant, said Dotson had shot Dennehey in the head during an altercation.

Authorities said Tuesday they were still holding out hope that Dennehey was alive.

Theres still a glimmer of hope Mr. Dennehy will show up and say, Hey, this is where Ive been the whole time, Waco police spokesman Steve Anderson said Tuesday.

Search dogs found no sign of Dennehy when the FBI helped Waco police search about 50 acres of private land north of town last week, Anderson said.

Dotson, who played basketball at Baylor last season and had been staying at Dennehys apartment, told a cousin he shot Dennehy as the two argued while firing guns, according to the warrant that cited an unidentified informant in Delaware.

But authorities simply called Dotson of Hurlock, Md., a person of interest and said Tuesday they have no single suspect.

We have nothing at all right now to indicate (Dotsons) a suspect. Hes just a citizen. Its a missing persons case, said Chris Flynn, captain of the Hurlock police department.

No charges have been filed, Anderson said. He said a Waco investigator interviewed Dotson on Friday, but he didnt know whether police had spoken to him since the search warrant affidavit was made public Monday.

Dotson has hired an attorney, he told The Washington Post on Tuesday.

I want everyone associated with this to know my prayers are with them, Dotson told the newspaper, which did not cite his whereabouts.

At Hurlock, a rural community on Marylands eastern shore, Dotsons aunt, Pat Waters, said Tuesday that he returned to town for the summer and was at her house Sunday, but they didnt discuss Dennehy. She didnt know where he was Tuesday.

Waters said Dotson is probably scared. Hes not a person that talks a lot.

Grady Irvin Jr., Dotsons lawyer, told the newspaper his next step is to spend time with authorities to see if we can be of assistance. Irvin, a St. Petersburg, Fla., attorney who represents athletes, did not return a call early Wednesday from The Associated Press.

Daniel Okopnyi, who is listed in the affidavit as Dennehys friend, told the Post that the player said in a June 14 telephone conversation that someone is out to get me. But Okopnyi said the person who had allegedly threatened Dennehy wasnt Dotson.

Dennehys family reported the 6-foot-10 junior missing June 19, about a week after he was last seen. His sport utility vehicle was found last week in a mall parking lot in Virginia Beach, Va.